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Deplores CBSâ€™ and NBCâ€™s Hypocrisy

How about their knowing help in allowing President Bush to lie to the American people about the war in Iraq? Which is more insulting to Americans, Imus' second rate comedy or causing thousands of Americans to die in a needless war?

OP-ED: ON IMUS

I'm deeply revulsed by CBS and NBC's decision to fire Don Imus.

It's the opening shot in a new kind of McCarthyism, where every entertainer, academic and opinion writer will be risking their livelihood for daring to express any opinion that might offend someone.

These same networks pose as defenders of free speech whenever the public complains about their programming being offensive. They are now advancing what may be the biggest threat to free speech in this nation's history, particularly to free speech in the media.

The premise behind these networks firing Imus is that he insulted peopleâ€”which he surely didâ€”yet these same networks put on hundreds of hours of the most degrading and insulting programming in the history of popular culture. In fact, the insulting nature of his commentary is exactly why Don Imus has been one of their most profitable sources of revenue. In reality, despite the unquestionable offensiveness of his comments, Imus is one of the least offensive things these networks put on the airwaves.

For example, the current weekly lineup of so called entertainment shows on these networks features incredibly brutal murders, graphic autopsies and hundreds of acts of adultery. The ads between these "family shows" peddle slasher films that are more pornographic than anything rated XXX.

Virtually every comedy show on these networks specializes in advancing an agenda which depicts all men, as complete morons with zero moral leadership in the family. Marriage is depicted on these networks as the most miserable of social states. One can only guess at the social consequences of entire generations of children being brought up on these shows.

The news shows on these networks specialize in broadcasting the latest murders, rapes and child molestations into our living rooms when they are not obsessed with actor role models who take drugs, have illegitimate children or otherwise burn themselves out. "Fashion experts" making incredibly nasty personal comments about people's weight, hair or wrinkles fills hundreds of hours of airtime on these networks.

Teenage promiscuity is peddled more aggressively on these two networks than sugar coated breakfast cereal or watered down beer. Their commercial sponsorships are a whose who of world polluters, pharmaceutical companies selling drugs they know are harmful and car companies that have spent decades suppressing safety improvements and alternative energy systems that could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and would have improved the quality of life for all future humans on the Earth.

Need I mention that their political coverage completely distorts the truth about the views of every candidate for public office or that their fake talk shows featuring people insulting and interrupting each other have done more than any other source to completely destroy polite public discourse?

How about their knowing help in allowing President Bush to lie to the American people about the war in Iraq? Which is more insulting to Americans, Imus' second rate comedy or causing thousands of Americans to die in a needless war?

CBS and NBC have seriously hurt their credibility by this act of cowardice. We can only hope that the American people see through this sham of phony political correctness. The First Amendment is about protecting unpopular speech, not politically correct speech.